Tension & Performance: Why Pressure Improves Play

Their next match will be against Elordi and Zabaleta tonight in Amorebieta. The two combinations desperately need a victory to maintain their chances of directly reaching the semifinals. “It’s the first thing we want to do and then if we want to dream more about reaching the final,” he stressed.

In his first participation, Larrazabal has improved his performance as the competition has progressed. He admits that he started out “nervous or afraid to play my game, but now I’m giving the ball speed and finishing the goal better.”

He is starting to feel “more comfortable” next to a hard-hitting defender like Berriozar. «At first I was more self-conscious and didn’t play my game. In the last six or seven games I have scored more and finished more goals. I am more liberated. With Mariezkurrena you are always safe because he is a pelota player who quite dominates the game, and my style suits him because that way I can attack. Now I am better and happier with my benefits.”

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As the days have passed, the tension has increased because the margin to achieve the first objective they had set is smaller. “It’s more noticeable,” he acknowledged. The championship has maintained equality from the beginning and those from Baiko have always occupied the top positions in the table. “We have fought for all the goals even though we have lost.”

There is less and less left for the first phase to conclude “and the nerves are more on edge. It can make many people fail more. It is good for us because with greater tension we tend to play better, more serious and we fail less, which is what is important,” he stressed.

They were able to surpass Elordi and Zabaleta in the first lap at the Durango fronton and they intend to repeat it. “Every game is different and the fronton can also change a lot, but if we play a good game we can beat them.” To do this they have to play “serious, as we have been doing lately. Try to fail as little as possible, which is what has made us lose some matches. “I think Mariezkurrena is going to dominate even if they have a difficult opponent in their field, and if I’m right I can score quite a few goals,” he noted.

The field they will play on is complicated. «It is good for the defenders because the ball comes out a lot, but it is difficult to attack. But you have to adapt to all the frontons because in the end it is our place, and we have to play well in all of them,” he concluded.